6/14/11

Yikes, Look out Dadd!

The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke, 1855-64

Richard Dadd 1817-1886
According to the Tate Collection online: "Richard Dadd painted this work in the Bethlem Hospital where he was sent after murdering his father and being declared insane. The scene was drawn from his imagination." I always thought this piece was "crazy" but had no idea the artist was too. He killed his father with a knife because he thought his dad was satan in disguise. I've never mistaken my parents for personifications of evil but it is curiously easy to switch the n in santa around to spell satan.